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Emotion Regulation Is One Of The Most Critical Stages Of

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Emotion regulation is one of the most critical stages of Childhood development. During this critical period children develop the foundation and basis of future success and overall well being. Children learn that emotions indicate to them their internal state and indicates to others their motivational and internal state. Emotions represent our internal state and are influenced by our external environment. They can be automatic or controlled response to our environment in relation to our current situation. As children start to learn about their emotions, they begin to understand how they can influence; the kinds of emotions they have, when they experience certain emotions and how they express their emotions. Emotions can be influenced by …show more content…

Emotional regulation has many different forms and each form independently impacts cognitive functioning in different ways (Richards & Gross, 2000). There are two main categories of emotions that we regulate, positive and negative emotions. One of the most common forms of negative emotional regulation is suppression. Suppression is an emotional response that is evoked after an event has been appraised in emotional term. When suppressing ones emotions the individual inhibits the urge to act on an undesirable emotional impulse making the behavior less desirable and expressive (Butler, 2003). Suppression interrupts and inhibits negative emotions preventing them from becoming intrusive thoughts which then escalate and becoming unmanageable. This strategy is used to make oneself feel and look better during uncomfortable, intolerable and potentially threatening emotional experiences Although Suppressing ones emotions may be beneficial under certain circumstances, overall it does more harm than good. Emotional regulation requires more effortful control and consumes more cognitive resources. The consumption of these cognitive resources increases cognitive load which then reduces attention geared towards other task (Richards & Gross, 2000). Suppression impairs memory specifically for information that is presented verbally or is verbally encoded (Richards & Gross, 2000).This

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